I took up the challenge of amusement machine sales in 1965, when I was 23. My base was an office of just 79 square meters. Since then, I have always ventured into uncharted territory, and I have experienced many failures. I have reached my position today by reviewing such failures and then using the lessons learned from them in subsequent ventures. Without experiencing failure, people and companies cannot grow. Sammy’s company credo, “Always Proactive, Always Pioneering” encapsulates this attitude. Similarly, “Creation is Life” the company credo of SEGA is imbued with the spirit of a pioneer, which the company has inherited from its foundation. The SEGA SAMMY Group, which was established through management integration with SEGA, maintains a culture that permits “good failures,” in other words a culture allowing failures that are the result of strenuous efforts to reach goals. When I am speaking to young personnel, I often urge them to “hurry up and experience a good failure.”

I always make an effort to approach business management from medium-to-long-term viewpoints. This approach stems from lessons learned from those times when we have pursued near-term business results overeagerly, introduced mediocre products or services, and damaged the carefully cultivated value of major IP as a result. Further, I believe this management stance is also necessary for permitting the “good failures” of our Group companies.

I constantly tell employees that while reaching the fiscal year’s targets is an important mission, providing products and services that significantly surpass the expectations of customers is more important.

With this in mind, I have tried to set an example by rigorously checking products until I am convinced of their quality. Also, in the context of long-term business management, Road to 2020 (covering fiscal 2018 through fiscal 2020) shows the direction of new ambitions initiatives the Group should proceed.

We are positioning the Pachislot and Pachinko Machines Business and the packaged games, the amusement machine sales and the amusement center operations areas of the Entertainment Contents Business as core businesses that are not premised on sales growth and in which we will continually reform earnings structures with a view to realizing profit margin improvements and the stable generation of earnings. The Group’s portfolio strategy is to invest the cash that these core businesses generate in growth businesses in a prioritized manner. We have positioned the digital game area as a medium-term growth driver, while we are developing the Resort Business as a third pillar from a long-term perspective. Through the Resort Business segment, we operate one of Japan’s premier resort complexes, Phoenix Seagaia Resort, and South Korea’s first integrated resort, PARADISE CITY, through a joint venture with the PARADISE GROUP of South Korea. We are also accumulating know-how through the operation and management of resorts with a view to participation in the integrated resort business in Japan.

The enactment of the Act on the Establishment of Specified Integrated Resort Areas in July 2018 clarified the road map for the introduction of integrated resorts to Japan. After the selection of operators and areas, we expect that the realization of commercial operations will become possible around 2024. We believe that the introduction of integrated resorts to Japan has the potential to become a powerful tool for activating Japan’s economy through the use of private-sector capital. Many companies have announced their intention to participate. However, I want the Group to hold the majority of projects and develop businesses in a broad range of fields with casino operations as the central focus. At present, we are laying the foundations for participation by accumulating know-how through PARADISE CITY and other resorts, establishing financial resources, and conducting multifaceted investigation and analysis. If we can realize participation and build successful businesses, it will open up a wide range of possibilities for the Group going forward, including the expansion of businesses in the global market using the know-how gained from such successes.

Through such ambitious initiatives, the future vision of the SEGA SAMMY Group is to become a corporate group that has a unique presence among global entertainment companies with respect to both revenue scale and business lines. I believe my mission is to meet the expectations of shareholders and all other stakeholders through the realization of this vision, and I will work unstintingly to realize it.

As we take on new challenges, we would like to ask our stakeholders for their continued support.